University of Minnesota - UMN Executive Leadership Insights
I'd Rather Be in Charge
Book

I'd Rather Be in Charge

A Legendary Business Leader's Roadmap for Achieving Pride, Power, and Joy at Work

Charlotte Beers
Vanguard Press, 2012
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Editorial Rating

8

Qualities

  • Applicable

Recommendation

Legendary advertising executive Charlotte Beers focuses on the qualities and skills women need to pursue leadership roles, but every professional – male or female – can benefit from her perspectives and strategies. She unabashedly dishes up a fascinating, no-holds-barred blend of her experiences and those of the students at her “X Factor” seminars. The result is a solid, workable strategy for tapping into your innate talents. Beers’s mission is to develop females’ leadership potential by helping them avoid being “considered womanly at the expense of being seen as leaderly.” She emphasizes succeeding by tapping into your essential self. getAbstract endorses her informed autobiography for everyone with higher aspirations on the job and in life.

Summary

“From Revolution to Evolution”

Here’s a telling statistic: “Some 51% of managerial and professional jobs go to women today, compared to only 25% in 1980.” Yet with this tremendous progress, women still encounter stumbling blocks and “opaque” (though no longer glass) ceilings that limit their progress as they attempt to build authentic, dynamic relationships with their male bosses, peers and co-workers. Companies have made great strides in reducing workplace sexual harassment, but, ironically, the gains have created a “climate of caution” that puts women at a disadvantage when dealing with male authority figures. If you are a woman in the workforce, three environmental factors will challenge your efforts at work:

  1. The “disconnect” between men and women – The genders differ in their thinking and their approaches to work, goals and achievement.
  2. Men’s perceptions of “womanly qualities” – Male colleagues expect women to behave according to stereotypes; when a female leader acts differently, men may criticize her or feel uncomfortable working for her.
  3. Your “self-imposed limitations” – You can’t attain...

About the Author

Charlotte Beers, former CEO of Ogilvy & Mather Worldwide, served as US undersecretary of state from 2001 to 2003.

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